EF1 Tornado — Marion, Mississippi

2025-03-31 · near Pinebur, Marion, Mississippi

Event narrative

This tornado touched down near Jefftown Road and Hwy 13 in Marion County. The tornado started off small, causing some minor tree damage near the starting point. The tornado then traveled northeastward through the forest before crossing Beach Road. There was noticeable tree damage along Beach Road. The tornado then started to gain strength as it approached Sistrunk Road and the Marion/Lamar County line. This is where the damage started to increase some with snapped softwood trunks and some minor damage to a home. The tornado then peaked in just across the county line in Lamar County along Johnson Road and Vernon Gibson Lane. This is where the tornado grew to a width of 300 yards wide and causing significant tree damage in the forest. Hundreds of trees were snapped and uprooted of mixed variety. Homes sustained significant damage along Vernon Gibson Lane and on McGraw Road. One home on Vernon Gibson Lane was severely damaged but it was an older home. A mobile home was pushed off its blocks along Vernon Gibson Road. The tornado then took a hard right turn down towards McGraw Road where the highest damage indicator was a very well built home that lost its entire roof. The exterior walls remained upright. Other homes along McGraw Road were pushed off their stilts and foundations. The tornado quickly started to wind down as it continued to cause tree damage along Carroll Road before dissipating just after Bar D Farm Road, where it caused additional damage to a home in Lamar County. The peak winds were estimated at 135 MPH, which is a high-end EF-2. The max width was at least 300 yards and the path length was 7.3 miles.

Wider weather episode

A line of severe storms pushed across the region and produced damaging wind gusts that downed trees and power lines, and damaged several structures during the early morning hours of the 31st. Ahead of the storms, strong gradient winds also produced damage to a similar degree.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (31.1300, -89.7400)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1259266. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.